Today is a travelogue day! Hope you all enjoy reading about Baku 🙂
So, for those who don’t know, Baku is the capital of Azerbaijan! And Azerbaijan is under Russia, to the east of Turkey, and to the west of the Caspian Sea. It’s a pretty small country, but the landscape is very diverse, and the culture is unique. As it is a post-Soviet country, there is a little bit of that influence left, especially in Baku. There is also a Middle Eastern flavor to the country, as well as kind of a European feeling in Baku. I’m not quite sure if that makes sense, but if you visit, I think you’ll be able to understand 🙂
The most famous tourist sight in Baku is probably the Old City. It’s a section of the city that is surrounded by a gate. Inside there are residences, but there is an old Shah palace that you can also visit. This picture of a tower/lookout was taken at that palace. The Old City has really narrow streets that you can explore, and it’s very fun to walk through, as most of the streets are too narrow for cars to come through. At the edge of the Old City is yet another historic attraction…
The Maiden Tower! There are many legends and stories associated with this tower, most of which involve a love story between a maiden and a young man, and the maiden tragically jumping to her death from the tower. Despite this morbid ending to the story, it is a very interesting tower. You can climb up the stairs to the top, and on each floor you can read about a different aspect of the tower. At the top, you can walk around and catch a great view of the entire city.
(that’s only about half of the view, but as you can see, there’s a lot of different styles of architecture in Baku as well)
One of the other important places relating to Azerbaijan’s history is Martyr’s Lane. This is both a cemetery and a memorial to those killed during Black January and the Nagorno-Karabakh War by the Soviet Army. Many of these were civilians. Walking through here was very sobering, especially because many of the people who lost their lives were just ordinary people, who hadn’t done anything to deserve dying prematurely. Memorials for Turkish and British soldiers are also present here. This monument at Martyr’s Lane (pictured below) has an eternal flame that is often visited by dignitaries and officials.
On a very different note from that, Baku has so many cats! There’s a funny saying here, that pretty much each establishment has its own cat 🙂 So if you like cats, be sure to visit! This kitten was in a small gift shop near the city center, isn’t he so cute?
If you go a little farther out of the city, you can visit the Fire Mountain! This is a natural phenomenon, and it is so cool! Pretty much, there is natural gas that comes out of the side of the mountain, and it constantly burns! It’s now surrounded by a gate, but my local friends told me that people used to come and use it to cook their food, wouldn’t that be fun?!
I also had the chance to visit outside of the city, and I thought that the landscape was beautiful! It’s such a different view than what you get in Baku, but it’s beautiful in it’s own way. And the combination of colors is absolutely gorgeous, this picture doesn’t do it justice.
This is just a few of the sights to see in Baku, but hopefully this blog gives you a little glimpse at a destination that is a little bit off the beaten path~
Delectable 